Extreme New Age group, formerly represented in New
Zealand. Basically a New Age cult/business
cult/scam. In August 2006 this group was wound up in Maine (USA) by the
Maine Attorney General. See the History
page in the Closeup for more information. GWP announced they would be
continuing in the other states and in other countries, and have resurfaced as
Family Systems Research Group.

A group officially launched in New Zealand in early 2004 by Mary
Miller, with the (then) NZ contact person Grace Maiden.
The Gentle Wind Project (GWP) has been described as being "a Cult"
by former members, who have a web site called Wind
of Changes. We have a detailed report of their Insiders'
Stories (PDF, 51kB) available for download so researchers can make up their
own minds on these claims. (An author statement
regarding the report is available on their own web site.) Their descriptions
of GWP's practices include many of the standard mind
control techniques such as deceptive recruitment, control of information,
etc, as well as a slightly more original angle – sexual rituals to provide energy
for GWP's "healing instruments" which the group makes and distributes.
The members involved in the sexual practices – mostly women – are supposedly
warned not to tell outsiders (or even their husbands) about these practices.
Naturally, GWP denies the claims.

GWP charges/requests donations of anywhere from a few hundred dollars up to
thousands of dollars for the various healing instruments, which do absolutely
NOTHING for the well-being of the user apart from that easily explained by expectation,
dependency and the placebo effect.
Being large, brightly coloured and very expensive, the healing instruments should
make really great placebos – just don't take them orally. Caveat emptor
("let the buyer beware" – although if you misinterpret that Latin
as meaning "the buyer has an empty head" you might not be far off).
False claims of credibility (especially relating to the healing instruments),
deceptive marketing and sales practices, the questionable end destination of
money raised, etc, are signs the Gentle Wind Project is also a business cult
and scam.

Our original GWP listing (not very dissimilar to the paragraphs above) resulted
in this page (not the site) being included on their own web site in a list of
targets (since removed) for legal action. Intimidation is a classic cult
trait. We note that their international web site has plenty of information
available which makes their beliefs and many of their practices (not to mention
the ridiculous price of their healing instruments!) quite clear.

The Gentle Wind Project has used straw
man arguments to rebut the claims of former members. The GWP states that
"rape, molestation, and domestic violence" did not take place in the
"energy work" – their euphemism for the sexual practices that supposedly
provide energy for the healing instruments. No such claims have been made by
former members. We note the GWP has not denied that the "energy
work" actually involves sexual activity. Another straw man argument is
on their home page where they state "We are not ... part of a ... science
fiction alien takeover of earthlings as found in the movie and television fantasies
(as some of our critics would have you believe)..." No critics we know
of have made such a claim. (So who's writing the science fiction again?)

Since we had received no information to lead us to believe that Gentle Wind Project
would be withdrawing from New Zealand, to provide more
information for New Zealanders interested in researching this group we
prepared a Gentle Wind ProjectCloseup.

It seems that Gentle Wind Project also poses a serious danger to trees, since
they have been ultimately responsible for many trees being pulped to provide
all the paper for their donation-wasting law
suit (PDF, 214KB – a whopping 45 American sized pages in this document alone).

Urgent Notice: A worldwide product recall has
been announced for all "healing instruments" manufactured by the Gentle
Wind Project. These "healing instruments" apparently do not meet the
specifications of the original designers and may cause harmful side-effects.

At the end of June 2006 the Maine Attorney General's Office (in the USA) filed
a lawsuit against GWP. In August 2006 this group was wound up by the Maine Attorney
General. Read more on the History
page in the Gentle Wind ProjectCloseup. President Mary Miller expressed her intent to continue
GWP work in the other States and around the world. This she has done under the name Family Systems Research Group.

Written submissions for this listing are still being accepted (although please
read the Gentle Wind ProjectCloseup
first). Please see the Contact page. We note that
to date no submissions of any sort have been received from the Gentle
Wind Project or anyone representing them (legally or otherwise).